US-Ireland Alliance
Trina Vargo, President

I am writing to give my highest recommendation to Aiken. I understand Aiken has applied for Event Management Services with Invest Northern Ireland.

We at the US-Ireland Alliance engaged Aiken to handle all of the PR for our event marking the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement which was held at BBC Studios in Belfast in April. This event may have been the largest such event in Belfast as it included, on one stage, most of the negotiators of the Good Friday Agreement including the Taoiseach, Senator Mitchell, and General de Chastelain. There was extensive press interest in this event. In addition to press on the island, requests ranged from the US to Japan. The entire team at Aiken managed this daunting task without a single problem.
We found Claire and the entire team to be extremely professional and pleasant to work with. Their extensive and excellent relationships with the press were very helpful to our promoting the event in the press. The coverage we received was extensive and positive, due in large part to the work of Aiken and the advice they provided.

An event of this size and with so many personalities can be very stressful, yet the Aiken team was completely unruffled and unfazed under pressure. They were also very fair in their pricing and very transparent (I’ve often seen companies not give an accurate quote and then the bill keeps going up this never happened with Aiken).
I have extensive experience in working with various event managers and PR teams in various cities. As former foreign policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, I was involved in many events in that capacity. Since founding the US-Ireland Alliance in 1998, I have run various events in Washington, Dublin, Belfast, New York and Hollywood. Aiken are as good as anyone I’ve worked with and far better than most.
I am a firm believer in the maxim, Never promise more than you can deliver and always deliver more than you promise. That sums up the approach of Aiken. They exceeded anything we asked or expected of them.
Our only mistake was in not hiring Aiken to be our event manager as well as our PR company for the event. At the time, having never worked with any event planners or PR companies in Northern Ireland, we decided it might be safer to divide the work between two companies. In retrospect, we would have hired Aiken to handle both aspects of our event. We look forward to working with them again on another event.
I cannot recommend Aiken PR strongly enough, they are outstanding. You could not possibly go wrong in engaging them. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Trina Y. Vargo

Belfast City Council
Frances Murray, European Officer

I’d sum up Aiken’s approach to the connect Project, a very demanding project as being professional, partnership and productive. Why?

Their staff worked with Belfast City Council to provide creative solutions to a transnational event which required diplomacy (e.g. defining an event brand to appeal to and reflect six local authorities) and involved shifting and tight deadlines.  Their assistance in developing a three day interactive conference programme was instrumental in ensuring that the 60 guest visitors representing four EU Member States were able to put the theoretical workshop discussions into practice.  To implement a programme of day-long site visits on three themes, across the metropolitan area and effective in four languages required innovation, communication and commitment. Aiken delivered on all fronts and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. Belfast City Council has used Aiken for many events in the past and we would not think twice about using their services for any type of event in the future.

The Bar Council
Brendan Garland, CEO Bar Library

As Chief Executive of the General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland I have worked with Aiken for some 10 years. The Council has regularly briefed Aiken and sought their advice in a number of important public issues for the Bar Council including The Oath of Allegiance to the Queen; Publication of Barristers’ Earnings; The Wearing of Wigs and Gowns; Bar Charities; The Publication of details of Disciplinary proceedings against barristers; Payments by the Public Prosecution Service to Barristers; Solicitor Advocates; deaths of prominent members of the Bar.

Of more relevance however is the fact that Aiken are the Bar Council’s organisation of choice for event management services. The have organised three very high profile events in recent years.

The first was the opening of the new Bar Library which was conducted by the President of the European Court of Human Rights Professor Lucius Wildhaber and by Seamus Heaney Poet Laureate. The event was attended by many VIPs and dignitaries including the Attorney General, The Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Justices of Appeal and the Supreme Court Judges of Northern Ireland.

The second event was the opening of the refurbished Old Bar Library by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese. This was again attended by all of the senior members of the Judiciary mentioned above together with important local representatives from all parts of the business community.

Most recently Aiken organised and managed the World Bar Conference on behalf of the Bar of Northern Ireland and the Bar of Ireland. Delegates from all of the referral Bars throughout the world attended. Aiken handled all aspects of the Conference from organising venues to arranging accommodation, pick ups etc for VIPs and speakers. Speakers at the Conference included the First Minister, Peter Robinson, the President of Ireland Mary McAleese; the Attorney Generals of Ireland and Great Britain; Beatrice Mtetwa, Zimbabwe; Justice Ruth McColl, South AfricaDame Nuala O’Loan. Such was the success of the Conference that the Bar of England and Wales has asked Aiken to organise their Annual Conference.

Aiken were excellent in ensuring the required numbers attended the events. They have proven systems in place for achieving this and they certainly worked for us. They have provided creative solutions to what appeared at first blush to be insurmountable problems. They have often had to assist with a variety of different unrelated problems which have arisen for us often on the same day. For example at the World Bar Conference it was decided that a press release should be issued condemning the Government in Zimbabwe. Aiken handled this seamlessly as part of the days proceedings. I have found Aiken to be at their best during the crises that always arise around events of this type. This is particularly the case when we have so many VIPs and dignitaries attending. Aiken have a “can-do” attitude and I have to say have never let me down personally and my reputation often rests on the success of these events.

I would have no hesitation in recommending Aiken for appointment.

BT Ireland
Priscilla O’Regan, Head of Communications

Aiken has been working with BT since January 2007. The team works seamlessly across four internal client divisions, developing bespoke events and delivering event management for a wide range of projects. Their budget management systems are exemplarily and very clear.  While Aiken’s reliability and ‘can do’ attitude inspire confidence they are never complacent; each event is treated as an entirely new project to which the team brings a refreshing enthusiasm and creativity.  While they deliver events with flair the Aiken team also works hard to ensure that every possible element is covered – no prima donnas here, just people who do their job extremely well. With such a busy events’ schedule across all the internal divisions, we rely on Aiken PR to be the gatekeeper of BT’s overall event management strategy.